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Salvador Dali’s remains were exhumed as part of a controversial paternity test.
The art world suffered a shock in 2015. Pilar Abel Martinez, a Spanish psychic, claimed she is painter Salvador Dali’s secret daughter. Only last month, Martinez won the right to have Dali exhumed. Now, the authorities may conduct the proper DNA tests.
The Iconic Moustache is Still Intact
On Thursday, July 20th, authorities exhumed Salvador Dali’s remains from his resting place at the Dali Theater-Museum in Figueres, Spain. The Dali-Gala Foundation opposed the exhumation but there was no settlement regarding the appeal. Both parties reached a compromise to begin the exhumation outside the working hours of the museum.
On Thursday, representatives from the Foundation, the Forensic Medical Institute and the lawyers of both parties entered Dali’s resting place under the dome of the museum. Authorities secured the area so no one would intervene.
With the help of a pulley, the authorities managed to remove the casket lid that weighs one ton. Coroners then collected the necessary samples including hair, teeth, and nails. The Foundation confirmed the authorities conducted the intervention with great attention so as to not disturb the rest of Dali’s remains. In addition, the secretary general of the Foundation declared that it was “exciting” seeing how well preserved Dali’s corpse was. His iconic mustache has still remained in the classic “ten-past-ten position”.
The Dali Foundation Disapproves of the Intervention
The representatives from the Gala-Dali Foundation were content with how authorities conducted the investigation. However, they still disapprove of the act. The Foundation maintains the fact that Martinez does not have the evidence to support her claim. Martinez has a notarized statement from a woman who claims that she was a friend of Abel’s mother and that the mother confessed Abel’s father was Salvador Dali. The Foundation added:
Before agreeing to such an invasive act as the exhumation of Salvador Dalí in a museum, the claimant Pilar Abel Martínez—as proposed by the Foundation and the Spanish State—should have been required to carry out a DNA test to compare her DNA with that of her legal father (deceased) or her brother, to thereby obtain all available evidence that she is not their daughter or sister.
Coroners will announce the results obtained after having Dali exhumed in early September, this year.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons.
